The Lingering Question of the Triangle
by Layagg
Summary: Word painting of a short scene featuring Seung Mina as she fumbles and tries to uncover what was in her mind. Oneshot.


_Disclaimer: I don't own Soul Calibur or its characters. I do want to own Soul Calibur 5 but that's not part of the disclaimer._**  
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Spring time had always been the liveliest among the seasons as plants go from death to blooming; animals wake from hibernation and prepare towards activity; the ground once barren was now full of flora; the air used to be deathly cold, now cast warmth on everything; the sun once distant was now closer. The bustle had always been notable not only in the wilds but among people, too. Among towns, business boomed with merchants' stalls along the sides of streets brimming with buyers in their front, houses which once hid people in their warmth now cast them towards their different businesses, fields were now studded with farmers sowing and planting rice in the paddies. Their feet were soaked in knee-deep water with their waists bent for hours in a day.

However, for a warrior, any season is as good as any—spring as autumn and summer as winter. Honing a lifelong skill to perfect encompassed them all. She saw this especially in him as he went on, neither bothered by the cool gust of wind blowing leaves to his direction or the bright sun glaring at him. The trees around him only appeared as props in a stage which the actor only took to noticing when it was the time to use them—so were the lush grass that bent as he trampled on them and the small rocks that flew as his feet skidded on the ground as he spun around like the staff that danced from one of his hands to another. He yelled as he moved, one cry per thrust and kick and swing of his weapon.

She stood under the soft shades of trees in front of his performance and couldn't help but admire his skill and gracefulness as he executed each move. 'He is a fine warrior,' she thought. 'He is a perfection of a man and a warrior. He always thinks of his duties and is firm in his resolves.' So, she thought. However, deep inside—secretly, she wanted more from him. Not just a warrior but a friend—something very intimate, something only she could possess in him.

Something that was not for her...

'Wait!' she thought, confused. She always was sure of herself and her vision almost always never blurred as had her resolves. People had always told her she was stubborn and she liked it that way. No one could push her aside or shift her decisions just because she was her. Call her a tree rooted firmly to the ground, unswayable, or a rock which no one could bash into pieces with mere hands—that was her...

Her identity...

'But what is this?' she asked herself inquisitively as if presented with a foreign object that had not passed her eyes before. She chuckled and then laughed quietly at herself and at wonderment. As usual, he didn't even turn an eye on her inspite of her laughter. That ruddy face of his, with his matted hair strewn messily on it, which he cared not at all, was a picture of concentration. That was what she admired in him... tenderly...

'But what is this?' she repeated to herself, this time also a rebuke, as if ordering herself: 'know yourself!' This time not a smile crossed her face nor did a laugh escape her mouth.

"I never liked him and I never will," she said—actually more of commanded herself. Like a huge rock besides the breaking ocean waters, each wave that pounded on it never broke it at once. Each pounding, however, little by little eroded it, diminished it, making it smaller.

...Little by little with persistence and repetition.

Like her resolve.

She had told everyone that she would not marry nor fall in love contrary to the reproach of her relatives or the scolding of her father. She believed she never suited the picture of a woman in her times but must have been a citizen of another age. Others thought that she was not a woman at all but a man trapped inside her body. She accepted that as long as they never looked down at her because of her womanhood. She wanted the freedom to decide her own life... her own destiny... her own emotions...

The last one faltered in her as she frustratedly always had whenever in his presence—

Another gust of wind blew on her swaying her lock of braided hair along with all the soft grass which hid her feet. Their rustles seemed like applause for another character appearing at the center stage, sharing a spotlight with him and catching his attention.

"Hey! Kilik!" she observed another woman waiving her arms as the latter approached Kilik. She had always been like the sun, glowing and full of radiance, attracting men and women alike... attracting him...

"You've been practicing for so long. You must be tired so I brought you water. Here." She handed him the water skin made from sheep-gut. He took it from her hands with gratitude and smiled and drank like a thirsty beast.

"You've perspired so much. Here, let me wipe them off your face..." as she reached a cloth towards his face.

"Thank you, Xianghua. I've had enough of my practice. Let's go back to the village."

Xianghua grunted in approval.

'But what is this?' she asked herself once more as she observed them from afar, hand in hand, with a bitter taste on her tongue and a slight pain in her heart. Her face tensed in a grimace as she felt her throat tightening, as if someone was choking her. Once more her resolved was like the grass beneath her that bent with the wind. Once more, she couldn't recognize the girl standing on her feet. Once more, she was the girl she wanted not to be associated with. With shame and disgust she had enough with her observing and wanted time—alone with only herself to talk to. She needed to build the shattered resolve and sort the scattered pieces of her emotions.

She turned around abruptly only to face someone causing her to frown.

"Why do you look like that, grandma?" said a young man with hair dyed red like the sunset.

"Yunsung, get out of my way. And I'm not a grandma!"

"Ha! You're cross again like an old lady. See! I've never been a liar to anyone."

Her faced burned and became red with anger. "Take that back or I will make you!"

"Scary!" and he fled with her chasing him. "Talim, help! I'm being chased by the old lady again!" said he as he dodged a whack intended for his head.

Another girl, younger than them all with smaller frame and light brown skin, stood shaking her head, her pigtails swaying to and fro. "Yunsung, you've been rude to her again."

Amidst the noise and commotion, the chasing and fleeing, the tenderness of the couple oblivious to them, the young girl that giggled at the amusement they all gave her, the question lingered in her heart:

"But what is this? I hope someone could tell me..."

-0-

_Fine_

_-0-_

_Author's Note: There we have it with Seung Mina. I hope you like it. This is actually a preview for the characters I intend to include in SC: An Epic Saga for the later chapters. Please review. Thanks!_


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